Car-starter



(No Model,)

O. F. DODGE.

OAR STARTER.

No. 315,258. Patented Apr. 7, 1885.

n, PEYERS PhMwLnhugugmr. wm m 11c UNITED STATES:

PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES F. DODGE, OEPOGAHONTAS, ILLINOIS.

CAR-STARTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 315,258, dated April '7, 1885.

' Application filed September 19, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. DODGE, of Pocahontas, in the county of Bond and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Oar-Starters, of which the following is a specification.

The improvement relates to apparatus for- Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

A A designate wheels secured in the usual or any other suitable manner to axles B. Said axles have their bearings in suitable journalboxes, at. Ratchet-wheels a are secured, by bolts or otherwise, to the inner sides of the wheels A. I prefer that the peripheries of the ratchet-wheels a shall be approximately flush with the tread of the car-wheels, or portions thereof adapted to bear upon the tops of the rails.

O designates side pieces of the truck-frame, which, as shown, are secured together by transoms D D. Said truck-frame is adapted to be supported upon the journal-boxes in the usual or any other suitable manner. The carbody is preferably secured to stanchions b on stringers or side pieces, 0, extending lengthwise of the truck-frame and rigidly affixed thereto by bolts or otherwise. Said stanchions and side pieces may be made of wood or metal.

F designates standards, which I prefer to arrange upon the outwardly-extending ends of the side pieces. 0. Said standards are firmly affixed to said side pieces by means of bolts, screws, or otherwise, and extend for a considerable distance above said side pieces. Near the upwardly-extending end of the standards F are apertures forming slideways, in which may slide freely slider-bars G. Rods H H connect the slider-bars in such manner that when said slider-bars are moved backward and forward they will act in unison. The forward and backward excursion of said slider-bars is limited by the bars HH coming in contact with the stanchions F. Upon the outer side of the slider-bars G, I preferably arrange plates I. Near one end the plates I.

The normal I when, the car is moving forward, which position they assume by gravity, being prevented from attaining a vertical positionby pins 9, also rigidly secured to the sliderbars G.

When the said slider-bars are moved forward,

the pawls J engage with the ratchet-wheels a" on the wheels A, and cause the same to rotate. When, however, the slider bars are moved backward, the pawls J slide freely over the teeth on said ratohetwheels.

InFig. 3 I have best shown aplate,K,'whioh is secured to the plates I by screws or otherwise. Said plate K protects the pawls J and prevents their becoming detached from the pins f. Obviously the plate K may be omitted and its purpose fulfilled by downwardlyextending portions on the plates I. The pawls J are arranged so close together that at least two of them are at all times in engagement with the teeth on the ratchet-wheel a.,and by arranging them upon an incline, as previously described, the strain upon the pawls is partly borneby the pins 9, and the liability of break i age occurring at the pins f is thereby lessened. L is a rod extending in the direction of the length of the truck-frame, and arranged about i midway between the side pieces, 0. Said rod extends through apertures in the transoms D i D, and is adapted to move freely backward and forward therein. I have shown an adjustable collar, *5, arranged upon the rod L, near one end thereof, and secured thereto by means of a set-screw, t, by which means the position of the collar may be varied. Said collar is adapted to limit the backwardexcursion of the rod L. A hook, j, on' the end of the rod L is intended to afford a means of attaching a whiflietree to the said rod.

At a point between the transoms D D, I secure another collar, M, to the rod L by means of a set-screw, 7c. Secured to the collar M by nuts or otherwise, and extending in a direction opposite to that of the arrow shown in Fig. 1, is one of the ends of rods N. The other ends of the rods N are rigidly secured by nuts or otherwise to the rod H.

It is obvious that when the rod L is moved forward it will by means of its connection with the slider-bars G through the rods N and the rod H cause the said slider-bars to follow it in its forward movement.

Arranged about the rod 'L near its rearward end is a coil-spring, 0, one end of which said spring is secured to a plate, Z, affixed to the inner side of the transom D by bolts or otherwise. The other end of said spring is made fast to an adjustable collar, P, on the rod L. I may use the spring in other ways, and I may indeed employ springs of other kinds. Said collar 1 may be secured to the rod L by means of a set-screw, m. is always to return the carrier-bars G to their rearmost position, and consequently the pawls J beyond their point of engagement with the ratchet-wheels a. Vhen the rod L is pulled forward, it carries with it the carrier-bars G and the pawls J. The pawls J will then successively come into engagement with the teeth on the ratchet-wheels a, thereby causing the wheels A to rotate and the car to start its forward movement. In thus moving forward the collar M or a shoulder on the rod L comes in contact with a transom or cross-bar of the Thetendency of the spring truck-frame. After this the car maybe drawn along just as though the rod L were rigidly secured to the truck-frame. WVhen the car is stopped and the strain removed from the rod L, the latter is by the action of the spring 0 moved backward, carrying with it the sliderbars G and the pawls J, and the latter are again brought into position to be moved forward into engagement with the ratchet-wheels a to start the car. I do not limit myself to the use of any particular number of pawls, as the same may be varied.

This device is very simple and effective. By its use the most heavily-loaded car can be easily started.

\V hat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a car-starter, the combination of sliderbars moved in one direction by the motive agent of the car, a spring for moving said slider bars in the opposite direction, carwheels, ratchet-wheels arranged upon the carwheels in such position that the peripheries of the ratchet-wheels will beapproximately flush with the portions of the car-whcels which are adapted to bear upon the top of the rails, pawls arranged upon the slider-bars at an incline in the direction of the rotation of the wheel when the car is moving forward, and in such manner that at least two of them will engage with the teeth of a ratchet-wheel to rotate the ear-wheel, substantially as specified.

CHAS. F. DODGE.

Witnesses:

J as. \V. FIELD, JAMES M. MILLER. 

